The Things Girls Shouldn't See: Relocating the penis in sex education in Hong Kong

This article reports on how young women in Hong Kong relate to the penis. A total of nine focus group interviews were conducted at the University of Hong Kong to enable participants to reflect on and talk about their 'experience of the penis'. It is found that despite society's various attempts to restrict their access to the penis, it is very much present and available to the young women in Hong Kong. While most of the participants reported the normative response of disgust, which was expected as part of the 'proper femininity', positive experiences of the penis characterised by agency, mastery and fulfilment were also reported. Some of the things they do, such as watching an exhibitionist or actively consuming sexually explicit materials and pornography, subvert the discursive practice of positioning women as passive sexual objects. It is believed that with more open access to knowledge and experience, women will stand a better chance of achieving a more agentive relationship, not only with the penis as a potential transitional object in intimate relationships, but also with their own sexuality.     

The purposes outdoor education does,could and should serve in Singapore

This paper discusses the purposes that outdoor education does, could and should serve in Singapore. Gert Biesta’s conceptualisation of three functions of education is adapted to frame deliberations on the purposes of outdoor education in Singapore’s socio-political and educational milieu. The author suggests that outdoor education in Singapore could and should give high priority to serving three educational purposes; namely, building resilience, building emotional bonds with the place that constitutes Singapore, and building ecological literacy. In pursuing such purposes, outdoor education in Singapore might lessen the gap between the educational outcomes it currently produces and those it could achieve in the future.     

The impact of organizational learning capacity from the socio-cognitive perspective on organizational commitment

This study is to examine the impact of organizational learning on affective commitment in Korea. In particular, this study addressed the importance of organizational learning as an HRD strategy from the socio-cognitive perspective. Data were collected from four large companies located in the area of Seoul, South Korea. There were 233 usable questionnaires yielding a response rate of 61 %. Multiple regression analysis and principal factor analyses were applied to conduct a data analysis. The results showed that a linear relationship existed between the organizational learning capacity and affective commitment (R ² = .495). Four dimensions were statistically significant with the exception of “feedback.” Participative decision-making is the most important factor. Finally, the study discussed some implications for HRD theory and practice.     

The Effects of Paraphrasing Interventions on Problem‐Solving Accuracy for Children at Risk for Math Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to examine effectiveness of paraphrasing interventions on mathematics word problem‐solving accuracy in third grade children (N = 72) at risk for mathematics disabilities (MD). Three instructional conditions directed students’ attention through paraphrasing, via writing, to different propositions within word problems. Students were randomly assigned to one of four intervention conditions: paraphrase question propositions (restate), paraphrase relevant propositions (relevant) and paraphrase all propositions (complete) or an untreated control. A mixed ANCOVA indicated that paraphrasing relevant and complete propositions significantly increased posttest accuracy when compared to the control and restate condition. Results from the study provide support for the effectiveness of paraphrasing interventions that directs students to restate/paraphrase propositions of mathematics word problems relative to the control condition.     

Executive functioning and word reading in Hong Kong Chinese children: A 1-year longitudinal perspective

This study examined the bidirectionality between kindergarten children's executive functioning (EF) and word reading across two time points. Participants were 523 Hong Kong Chinese-speaking children (mean age at Time 2 = 64.59 months; 52.9% male) and their parents. At Time 1, children were administered the measures of EF skills: inhibitory control, attention shifting, working memory and Chinese word reading. They were reassessed with these measures at Time 2 one year later. Results from the cross-lagged panel model revealed that, controlling for child age, gender and parental education levels, children's word reading at Time 1 was significantly predictive of their working memory at Time 2, but that the three EF skills at Time 1 were not predictive of word reading at Time 2. These findings underscored the role of early word reading in promoting children's working memory.     

Examining public acquisition of science knowledge from social media in Singapore: an extension of the cognitive mediation model

This study extends the cognitive mediation model (CMM) by examining the role of social media in cultivating public science knowledge. A sample of 901 Singaporeans was collected through an online survey panel. The results showed that the CMM could be applied to a social media context with a focus on science literacy. Specifically, the findings indicated that people with higher levels of surveillance gratification and social utility motivations tended to pay more attention and to elaborate more about science news that they encounter on social media. Likewise, people with greater social utility motivation tended to engage in greater interpersonal discussions on social media. Notably, attention to news on social media had an indirect association with science knowledge through news elaboration and interpersonal discussion on social media. Implications for theory and practice for science communication were discussed.     

Teaching Science Through Home and Second Languages as the Medium of Instruction: a Comparative Analysis of Junior Secondary Science Classrooms in Hong Kong

Positioned in the Hong Kong education context, this article evaluates the effects of teaching science through home and second languages (i.e. Chinese and English) in Secondary 2 (or eighth grade) science classrooms. A total of 479 students, divided into two language instruction groups, participated in a teaching intervention comprising 16 lessons on the topic of ‘Making Use of Electricity’. Informed by the results of a mixed-methods study with a quasi-experimental design, with data collected from science diagnostic tests, inquiry questions and focus group interviews, this article reports that Chinese is the most advantageous language of instruction for low- and middle-ability science students, whereas English is more favourable for their high-achieving peers. Whilst Hong Kong students who learnt the focal topic in English were able to rid themselves of certain naive ideas generated from the translation of science terms into Chinese (e.g. pencil ‘鉛筆’ is translated as ‘lead pen’ in Chinese), they were also found to have misconceptions about certain scientific concepts. For example, they were confused about ‘open’ and ‘closed’ circuits because they mixed up the words ‘open’ (‘開放’) and ‘switch on’ (‘開啟’) in English. The study’s broad implications for language support and a mixed-code approach in science teaching worldwide are discussed.

     

Community and School Contexts in Youth Gang Involvement: Combining Social Bonds and Social Organization Perspectives

The Urban Review - Social bonds and social organization theory are combined to examine schools’ roles in regulating youth gang involvement in the context of community changes—an...